La part du hasard (1984)

Patrick Bokanowski's extraordinarily intimate portrait of Henri Dimier at work focuses as much attention on the personality of the materials as on the painter himself. Only fitting, as Dimier repeatedly insists that the artist's vocation is to let the paper "be aware of itself" and takes obvious pleasure showing the proper way to sharpen a pencil. Dimier demonstrates several playful exercises to cultivate an all-important sense of spontaneity while he approaches teaching as another opportunity for improvisation. "If you lose your momentum you lose your freedom," Dimier opines. And indeed Bokanowski's portrait exemplifies the benefit of sustained attention. - Max Goldberg